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- (No Model.)

T. LINCOLN. REVERSIBLE LATCH.

Patented July 1, 1890.

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BY ATTYS.

U ITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS LINCOLN, OF BROOKLYN, NEWV YORK, ASSIGNOR TO- THE HOP- a KINS & DICKINSON MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.-

REVERSIBLE LATCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 431,523, dated July 1, 1890.

Application filed December 26, 1889. Serial No- 334,927. (No model.)

1'0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS LINCOLN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Reversible Latches; andI do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

The object of this invention is to provide a reliable and inexpensive reversible latch that is, a latch capable of being used either as a right-hand or left-hand latch with equal facility and of being changed from one to the other in a few moments. In the present case the latch is combined with a lock.

The invention consists in the improved latch and in the arrangement and combination of the parts thereof, as hereinafter set forth, and finally embodied in the claim.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents, in side elevation, a lock embodying my improvement. Fig. 2 isa similar view with the back plate removed, showing the inside mechanism and especially the parts constituting said improvements. Fig. 3 is a section through line m of Figs. 1 and 2. Figs. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 are detail views of a certain stop-bar and follower.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts wherever they occur.

Referring to said drawings, a indicates the latch-bolt; b, a lever pivotally connected therewith at a; 0 cl, a divided or two-part hub; e, a reversible stop-bar adapted to engage with either the upper vor lower section of said two-part hub, to effect the change from a right to a left hand or vice versa, as may be desired, and f is a follower adapted to engage with said stop-bar to throw the latter into or out of said engagement when desired, to allow the latch to be operated from without or within, as will be understood.

My improvement relates particularly to the latch-bolt and the mechanism connected jecting portion d, into which is cut a notch to receive the ends of the reversible stop-bar e, as seen in Fig. 2. Said bar has alongitudinal movement, but is prevented from moving laterally by certain lugs 1 2 3 4, between which it slides, or by any other appropriate means. It is also notched at both ends, but at opposite'sides thereof, as clearly seen at 5 6, in Fig. 4, and as will be also understood upon reference to the several figures of the drawings, the projecting ends formed by said notches engage, respectively, with the upper and lower or inner and outer portions, as the case may be, of the divided hub, to prevent the latch-bolt from being operated from the outside.

The change from aright hand to alefthand or vice versa is effected by turning the stopbar end for end, as will be understood upon reference to Fig. 2, which shows the stop-bar when set for a right-hand latch, the letters R. H. and L, H. being marked-respectively upon the bar 'to indicate which end shall be used. It will be seen by the location of the parts in this figure that the latch cannot be moved or operated by the outside knob, as the outer portion of the divided hub is rigidly held by the stop-bar and cannot be turned by said knob. To effect the change, therefore, to a left hand it will be necessary first to reverse the position of the stop-bar- 2'. e., turn it end for endwhen it will engage with the inner or lower portion of the divided hub and leave the outer portion free; and, second, to reverse the position of the latch-bolt by raising the shank thereof from the pintle a, withdrawing the opposite end from the faceplate of the latch, turning it over or inside out, and thus placing it again in position, when it becomes a left-hand latch, as will be manifest.

If it be desired to free both knobs so that I the latch can be operated from both inside and outside the stop-bar can be thrown backward out of engagement with the hub by the follower f, by means of a suitable key or by a small knob secured therein for the purpose, as will be readily understood, said follower being provided with a lug or projection/i to engage with shoulders 0, formed in said stopbar, as indicated in Fig. 4, and by dotted lines in Fig. 2, to promote said result. A suitable spring 8, Fig. 2, is arranged to engage with said follower to hold it in the requisite position whichever way the bar may be thrown, as will be understood.

As the locking mechanism forms no part of my invention a description thereof is not deemed necessary.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new is guides for the stop-bar, and a follower hav- In a reversible latch, the combination of a 20 latch-bolt, a lever connected therewith, a twopart hub having projections formed with recesses, a stop-bar having notches at its ends reversely arranged and anintermediate notch,

5 ing a lug or projection for engaging the intermediatenotch of the stop-bar, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing, I have hereunto set my hand this 13th day of 30 December, 1889.

OLIVER DRAKE, E. L-. SHERMAN, 

